Issac, meet me when the river breaks, acrylic on unstretched canvas, by Dan Cardinal McCartney
Then They Saw Firelight is a duo exhibition featuring multidisciplinary artists Morgan Possberg and Dan Cardinal McCartney. Exploring the ongoing effects of colonialism within their artistic practices, Morgan and Dan share the experience of growing up as Métis people formerly placed in the foster care system as children.
Akimiski, Tanned invasive carp skins, found quilt, by Morgan Possberg
Morgan's work, which includes fish skin tanning and intimate ink drawings, depicts bodily metaphors at a human scale. Through larger-than-life paintings and sculpture, Dan reclaims imagery from his early childhood photographs in foster care.
In my dreams we are home up north. We speak Cree to each other and check a trap line. Nothing bad has happened to us, nobody has been taken away. Tomorrow will be better, and if not I’ll say it again.
They say for nehiyaw we choose the life we have. In the spirit world we see many options, and regardless still choose the one we have. There must be a reason.
I never learned to be mean
Even though foster care gave me many reasons to be
About my apprehension
About the west
About survival
Opening Reception: 2-4pm June 21, 2025
Virtual Artist Talk: 12pm June 28, 2025
Artist Bios:
Dan Cardinal McCartney (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist and curator who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from AUArts (2016) in Drawing. Most importantly, they are a full-time caregiver for their sister, Karri. Dan is of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations with family ties of Mikisew Cree, Metis, and mixed settler lines from Treaty 8 territory, specifically Fort Chipewyan. He was raised in foster care in the northern boreal region of Fort McMurray.
As a Two Spirit transgender artist, Dan sifts through patterns of intergenerational trauma. He relates his personal, ongoing reconnection with his family to his yearning for gender euphoria through storytelling. Dan focuses on mixed media collage, painting, moving images, and performance. He is interested in the genre of horror through a contemporary, Indigenous lens.
Currently, Dan is a Co-Artistic Director at Stride Gallery in so-called Calgary, Alberta and is a Core Member of the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective based in Edmonton, Alberta.
Morgan Possberg (they/them, Metis, Cree, Chippewa) is a transgender sculptor, ceramicist and curator, who makes work focused on connecting links between queer histories, colonialism, activism, environmentalism, and present day politics through a storytelling lens; placing these histories and truths into personal and digestible realities in conversation with each other. They completed their BFA at NSCAD University in Halifax, are currently pursuing their Master of Fine Arts at University of Guelph, and split their time between Calgary AB, and Guelph Ont. They are the current curatorial resident at TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary, Alberta.